The winner of the pitch competition at the Genesis Finale is awarded the Genesis Prize of A$30,000 equity-free funding, as well as ongoing support from Genesis. All finalists have the opportunity to compete for the People’s Choice and other awards.

Genesis does not take any equity (or a financial share) in your business. All grants paid to Genesis Program recipients are entirely equity-free.

Genesis is open to startups where at least one of the founders is a University of Sydney student, alumni, researcher, academic or professional staff. You can apply as a solo founder or as a founding team.  Other team members can be external to the University.

Teams can add or remove people throughout the program; however any changes must be advised to the Sydney Genesis team and a new team agreement may be required.

Apply here.

You'll be guided through the application process, which includes creating your personal and startup profiles on our platform.

You’ll need to answer some questions about your startup, including a summary of the problem you’re solving, your solution and how it works, target market, business model and any traction. You’ll also need to provide your student or staff ID number to confirm eligibility.

You’ll need to make and upload a short (maximum two minutes) video pitch summarising:

• WHY the problem you’re solving is super important, and to whom; and how your solution will create positive change
• WHO are you, and WHY you’re the right person/team to work on this problem
• WHAT traction you might have already, for example you may have registered IP, created a proof of concept, built an MVP or acquired some customers
• WHY you’re applying to Genesis - and if we could help you solve just one thing, what would it be?

Please note, video quality is not important; we just want to see and hear you present your startup to us. Applications without a video are considered to be incomplete.

Startup ideas are only eligible if the business idea submitted originated from one or more members of the team and the intellectual property (IP) belongs or is available solely to the team members.

The program is open to teams that may rely upon IP owned by third parties, such as patented technology developed by companies or Universities. It is not necessary at the time of entry to have negotiated licenses or other agreements to use these ideas.

In order to participate in the program, you need to provide accurate, complete and reliable information about your idea and your team. All information submitted will be treated confidentially. Non-disclosure agreements will not be signed with any team.

A standard cohort of ten startups (teams or individuals) will be admitted into the Genesis startup accelerator program.

Teams enrolled in any other business competition run by the University of Sydney, for example, Incubate, can also apply to the Genesis program with the same idea.

Please note that any cash prize payments will be made to a nominated bank account, and responsibility for distribution rests with the account holder.

We encourage you to maximise the support you can gain throughout the program.

Founders are required to attend five in-person events during Genesis: the program kick off, three goal nights and the Finale. These events are usually on a Wednesday evening at our CBD campus.

In addition, there are a number of master classes and online sessions, plus the opportunity for 1:1 coaching sessions with our mentors. The five startups who make the most progress during the program and meet our other criteria are selected to pitch at the Finale.

You must attend all sessions to graduate from the program with a course badge.

During the Genesis program, you’ll gain ongoing support and encouragement from your mentors and the Genesis team.

Throughout the program, you’ll:

• Set business milestones and/or goals to achieve across a number of goal nights and report on progress against these.
• Meet with our mentors at least three times, with the option for additional sessions, so you understand the value of an advisory board and learn how to update stakeholders effectively
• Learn a range of relevant skills to apply to your business through workshops led by expert guest speakers. Skills may include: legal requirements like ownership structures and tax, storytelling and pitching, fundraising, go-to market, sales, financial modelling and more.

Yes, you can enter as a solo founder or with a team of any size. Teams are typically composed of two to four people.

Yes, and note that at least one of the founders must be undertaking their studies or research at the University of Sydney, whether they are undergraduate, postgraduate, post doctorate etc. Other team members can be external to the University.

Please note we expect startups to have reached a minimum level of development, for example, to have completed a proof of concept or MVP of their solution, so they can benefit from the mentorship provided in the program. Startups at the idea stage would benefit from completing Sydney University’s Incubate program to test and validate their idea before applying to Genesis.

At least one of the founders must be a University of Sydney student, alumni, researcher, academic or professional staff. Other team members can be external to the University.

We accept startups from any industry or sector. We’re interested in AI, Saas, enterprise tech, healthcare software and hardware solutions, fintech, biotech, climate tech, consumer technology and more.  For deep tech solutions we will need to understand what stage of development you’re at to ensure your startup is ready to benefit from the mentorship provided in the program.

If you have any questions not answered here or want to discuss your application with us, please reach out to our team at sydney.genesis@sydney.edu.au.